


After the Storm

by Bohemian (Linguam)



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Aftermath, BAMF Magnus Bane, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Husbands, M/M, Protective Alec Lightwood, Shadowhunters: The Ficlet Instruments, True Love, Week 5: Forbidden
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-02 08:29:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20272972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Linguam/pseuds/Bohemian
Summary: Ruptured pavement, uprooted street lamps, a thick dusting of shattered glass, and the splintered pieces of a burnt roof covering the entire square. Like an earthquake and a hurricane came head to head and both lost.Alec takes in the wilted rigidity of his husband’s spine. It’s not too far from the truth.





	After the Storm

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [sh_ficletinstruments](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/sh_ficletinstruments) collection. 

> I took some liberties with the prompt words; hopefully, it is still within the rules. If not, I still had fun writing it. Hope you enjoy! <3
> 
> **Prompt:** No one can ever, ever find out.

Ruptured pavement, uprooted street lamps, a thick dusting of shattered glass, and the splintered pieces of a burnt roof covering the entire square. Like an earthquake and a hurricane came head to head and both lost.

Alec takes in the wilted rigidity of his husband’s spine. It’s not too far from the truth.

He grabs Underhill’s arm as the man walks past.

“No one,” he says, voice low, “can ever, _ever_ find out about this. Understood?”

Underhill’s gaze flickers to where Magnus stands at the edge of the scene, and then over to the young Shadowhunter recruits milling about the blast-zone, no doubt reading the awe-mixed-fear in their eyes as well as Alec.

He nods.

“I’ll take care of it.”

Alec watches long enough to see his friend continue into the fray, barking orders, before he turns and picks his careful way through the rubble and over to his husband.

Magnus’s skin is almost silver in the moonlight; it makes the dried blood on the side of his throat look even darker. He is standing with his arms crossed over his chest; his fingers, blackened with their enemies’ blood, dig into his forearms. It’s a wonder the fabric doesn’t tear.

There will never be a time where Alec isn’t completely mesmerized by Magnus’s magic and what he can do with it. There will also never be a time where he isn’t equally aware of the kind heart beneath all that power. Alec doesn’t fear that power, never has – but he fears for that gentle heart.

He stops one twitch of a manicured hand away from comfort.

“Magnus.”

Magnus swallows, Adam’s apple sharp in the naked light.

“If the Clave finds out…” His voice is hoarse, words jagged with the remnants of whatever demonic language he’d used to wipe their adversaries out of existence.

Alec shakes his head.

“They won’t.” He is all too aware that if the wrong people learned the true extent of what Magnus could do, it would put him in danger, and Alec is not about to let that happen just because some loudmouth rookie can’t keep his mouth shut.

Magnus is looking at him sidelong, weariness, apprehension, and fondness flickering in his now-glamoured eyes.

“Home?” Alec asks after a while, when the silence begins to stretch.

Magnus glances at the destruction behind them.

“Don’t they need you here?”

Alec shrugs.

“They aren’t my responsibility anymore.” When Magnus turns back to him, he adds, “And they aren’t my priority, either.”

He doesn’t need light to see the conflict in Magnus’s eyes. He reaches out, fingers grazing Magnus’s arm, just above the elbow. Magnus pushes into the contact like a man touch-starved, his eyes closing on an almost soundless sigh.

“Come on,” Alec murmurs. “Let’s go home.”

There is a ton of work left to do, but Alec feels no guilt when he guides his husband through a portal seconds later, hand low on his back. He has a mission much more important.


End file.
